ING CONSTELLATIONS.]

The attitude of Orion in the sky is a striking one. The warrior is
represented as holding a club in the right hand, and a skin or shield in
the left. His left foot is raised high as if he were climbing a steep
ascent, he seems to be endeavouring to force his way up into the zodiac,
and--as Longfellow expresses it--to be beating the forehead of the
Bull. His right leg is not shown below the knee, for immediately
beneath him is the little constellation of the Hare, by the early Arabs
sometimes called, _Al Kursiyy al Jabb[=a]r_, "the Chair of the Giant,"
from its position. Behind Orion are the two Dogs, each constellation
distinguished by a very brilliant star; the Greater Dog, by _Sirius_,
the brightest star in the heavens; the Lesser Dog, by _Procyon_, i.e.
the "Dog's Forerunner." Not far above Orion, on the shoulder of the
Bull, is the little cluster of the Pleiades.

There are--as we have seen--only three passages where _K[=i]mah_,
literally "the cluster" or "company,"--the group we know as the
Pleiades,--is mentioned in Scripture; and in each case it is associated
with _K[)e]s[=i]l_, "the fool,"--Orion. Several Greek poets give us the
same association, likening the stars to "rock-pigeons, flying from the
Hunter Orion." And Hesiod in his _Works and Days_ writes--

"Do not to plough forget,
When the Seven Virgins, and Orion, set:
Thus an advantage always shall appear,
In ev'ry labour of the various year.
If o'er your mind prevails the love of gain,
And tempts you to the dangers of the main,
Yet in her harbour safe the vessel keep,
When strong Orion chases to the deep
The Virgin stars."

There is a suggestion of intense irony in this position of Orion amongst
the other constellations. He is trampling on the Hare--most timid of
creatures; he is climbing up into the zodiac to chase the little company
of the Pleiades--be they seven doves or seven maidens--and he is
thwarted even in this unheroic attempt by the determined attitude of the
guardian Bull.

A similar irony is seen in the Hebrew name for the constellation. The
"mighty Hunter," the great hero whom the Babylonians had deified and
made their supreme god, the Hebrews regarded as the "fool," the "impious
rebel." Since Orion is Nimrod, that is Merodach, there is small wonder
that _K[)e]s[=i]l_ was not recognized as his name in Babylonia.[238:1]

The attitude of Orion--attempting to f